asphyxiated tears
by xerrodeath
Summary: [R&R :: Set after manga chapter 235] Sasuke's gone. Sakura has no where to turn...Tradgedy strike team seven, where will they turn? How will they cope...
1. Tears of a Butterfly

a s p h y x i a t e d . t e a r s  
.chapter one : t e a r s . o f . a . b u t t e r f l y

Manic screams ring through the damp night air, as the sky closes its eyes and sheds tears upon the dreary landscape of Konoha. The soft cotton candy colored hair of the fragile girl was drenched as the cold rain ran down her porcelain cheeks. She was torn up, cold, forgotten forever in her infernal mind; Tormented by her haunting thoughts. Her hands lay dormant, hold each other, resting on her broken heart. Her lips slowly moved, trying to usher out words, yet it was to hard, there was nothing she could say. She seemed to choke, trying to cough up the words.

"Wh…w…" It still seemed impossible to say even a syllable, much less the fact that her ever looming fear stood in front of her, not blinking, not moving, just starring, tearing a hole in her sole.

"Don't speak…" The dark figure standing in front of her, moved forward. She began to tremble. "Why? Because. Because I must live, this is what I have chosen. My path strays from yours, yet your blind. Blinded by you own fantasies." She stopped shaking, her tears fell seamlessly to the ground with the chilling rain. His feet came into her vision. She slowly moved her head upwards, to meet his cold eyes.

"Yo…you…" She still couldn't speak, her eyes now asphyxiated on his.

"Shut up…" His words hurt as they came out of his cold lips, "Just…don't'…" He raised his right hand up to her chin. The rain pounded off of his pale skin. He slowly moved his face forward, he closed his eyes and their lips met for nothing but a second. It seemed like an eternity for her, yet it was nothing happened. She fell into a paradise, she had been kissed, kissed by him. She felt his warm breath upon her left ear, he was whispering something, yet she had hardly snapped out of her own word, until one single word rang through, shattering her world forever.

"Goodbye…" He took his hand off her chin and turned around. She reach out, trying to grab a hold of her only love, her life. He actually said goodbye, it was all over. She couldn't do anything, what was there to do? She fell to her knees onto the cold cement ground. It didn't hurt, nothing could hurt her anymore. Tears flowed from her face uncontrollably. Her screams became dulled by the pounding rain.

Sakura woke up to a cold sweat screaming. Was it only a dream? If only it was. She looked around, the rain still pounded outside. It was as if the sky was crying for her, for Sasuke. What had she done to deserve this? Why did Sasuke leave her? She suffocated in her thoughts, the images of Sasuke walking away, and that kiss, oh that kiss, if only it had lasted longer. Her eyes welled up and began to burn with an immense pain. Was there any hope left? Sasuke had been gone for two months now, the mounting pain was like the weight of the world upon her shoulders, she just wanted to crumble. She turned her head looking at the kunai laying on the cold wooden floor. It taunted her. Almost laughing, beating her down, making fun of her like so many have done. A tear ran from her overflowing tear ducts.

"Why Sasuke…" Her words burned, they came out barley above the tone of a whisper. "Why…" Her hands clenched into fist. She raised her cold hands into the air and slammed them down. Her fragile porcelain skin tore on the splintered wood.

"Naruto…kun…you…broke your promise…" Tears bounced off of the wood before creeping in through the pores.

"Sasuke is gone…forever…" Her voice cracked with pain. "Why…" She cried out, as her eye caught sight of the scarred metal forehead protector. Naruto's lie, Naruto's lie scarred across the metal, "you could not save him…" She starred at the ceiling, "…and you can't save me…"

Sakura's bleeding hand reached for the kunai. She looked down at it, as if she were now taunting it, taunting it to cut deep into her smooth tear stained skin. She squeezed her left fist tightly, the veins popped up, she held the kunai in her right hand. "…no saving me now…Naruto-kun…" A tear dropped down onto the cold metal blade. She moved the blade over to her left arm, and aimed it between the two rather large veins that stood out in the middle of her arm.

The blade tore her skin apart, she watched as the blood trickled away from the wound, as if it had been freed from a prison, and if she was freed. She dragged the kunai up her arm, then took her right arm and whipped away her tears.  
"Sasuke…I wont cry anymore…" She pushed the blade deeper, her arm had begun to go numb. Sakura pulled the blade to the right making a large wound. Did she really have to do this? No, yet, did she want to suffer? It was better than the unbearable pain of loosing Sasuke forever. Her teeth clenched as her crimson blood flowed from her arm onto the floor. She slowly lowered her head and laid down upon the floor. Her vision began to blur as she slipped away out of consciousness.

The sun peaked out from behind the clouds and shone upon the wooden floor and Sakura's cold body, still her chest moving up and down with a steady flow of air, yet her body suffocates as blood pools around her.

Naruto walks down the cold hallways of Sakura's home. He stares mildly excited at the walls, after all he had not seen her for nearly two weeks. Where could she have been? She's never like this. The dark hallway Naruto was in started to become chilled, as if a wind had come through. He clenched the white flower he brought for Sakura, to cheer her up, as he looked down at the wooden floor. Light and shadows danced under Sakura's door, it seemed as if the strange breeze was coming from underneath the door also. It seemed strange, it was nearly winter, its so cold outside. Why would her window be open?

Naruto reached his right hand over the door knob and stopped. His hand hung in the air as if time stopped. There was a strange odder that hung around the door, it seemed familiar, yet so distant and, frightening. His fingers slowly touched upon the cold handle, he felt something, something bad rush through his body. His left arm twitched as he held on tighter to the elegant white flower. He starred down at the floor as sweat rolled off of his nose and hit the ground. The dancing shadows had ceased to exist, yet the wind continued. Naruto heard a strange noise in the room, almost a buzzing. He swallowed the dry sickness he felt as he watched a brown decrepit leaf flow under the door. His hand wrapped around the door knob and twisted. Dare he push the door open? Another droplet of sweat fell from his face, he took a deep breath, not knowing what to expect, he moved in. To knock, would have been so nice, to see what he saw would scare someone, anyone, for life.

Naruto's left hand shivered, as he stepped into the room, unprepared for what he saw. The stench that came from the room, it smelled of death. His eyes welled up, his head still down. Should he dare to look up? Of course, Sakura, she would never…

Naruto took five steps into the room, he closed his eyes half way in, he closed his mind of everything around him, shutting out the horrid sounds he had heard. He took another step in, then another. His foot had hit something, something soft, damp, and cold. His head raised towards the ceiling. His right fist clenched, his left held on to the flower, the flower he so desperately want to give to Sakura. Sweat rolled down his face, his eyes open. He was unaware as to what was at his feet, he want to move, really he did, but he didn't have to strength to. He felt as if he were going to collapse, if only he hadn't made Kakashi stay behind, outside, if only he were here.

Naruto starred at the ceiling, how beautiful it was, in the dark shadows. The curtains on Sakura's window fluttered with the wind, the ceiling became lit up with the afternoon light. A tear streamed from Naruto's right eye. Flies buzzed around the room, and suddenly, Naruto was brought back to the real world, the world of never ending pain.

"Sa…Sakura…" Naruto's throat was dry, he desperately didn't want to look down, "…a…are you…there?" His voice quivered. He couldn't help but to think of what had happened, what was going to starring him in his face…  
Naruto closed his eyes, his head swiftly moved downwards, trying not to, yet he had to see. His eye lids twitched, as if trying to lock themselves, to stop from seeing something, something horrible. Finally, he managed to gather enough courage, no, he had gathered nothing, he just had to look.

The delicate flower in Naruto's hand fell, being released by his warm sweaty hand. The white, beautiful flower landed in the still palm of Sakura. Tears fell from Naruto's face, there in front of him, at his very feet, lay Sakura.  
Her left arm, was split wide open, rotten. Flies hung in the air around her, attracted to the morbid sent. A kunai lay, stuck, in her upper forearm. A fly crawled along the top of it, as if looking at Naruto, knowing what had happened, it turned and took off into the air. The floor was stained with blood, blood that had poured from Sakura and sunk into the deep wood veins, resting eternally there. Maggots crept around underneath Sakura's cold lifeless body. Naruto found himself, dry, void of emotion. What could he say, or do for that matter. He choked back the vomit traveling up his throat. His whole body shook violently, sweat ran down his face, his eyes widened, his beautiful blue eyes had been forever burned with the image of Sakura, laying in her own blood, with the kunai still sticking out of her arm. His head sunk, lower and lower to the ground, his face was flooded with sorrow.

"First, Sasuke…now you…Sakura…" Snot began to run from his nose as tears started to flow once more. "I…I lo…why, Sakura-chan…why." Naruto sucked air in through his nose, "…I love…loved you…" he brought his right arm up and wiped the snot on his sleeve. "…you stupid…bitch…" Naruto clenched his fist and turned, Kakashi was at the door, in as much shock as Naruto himself was. Naruto walked to the door. As he walked past, Kakashi put his gloved hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun…" Naruto wrenched away from Kakashi's gentle grip. He took three step down the hall, and stopped. Naruto choked back tears:

"…no…just don't talk…" Naruto slowly walked out of the building.

Kakashi sighed, he starred at the white flower laying in her hand. He took off his head protector covering his sharingan eye. He walked over and set it next to the scarred forehead protect of Sasuke. Kakashi turned around with his eyes welled up, and made his way out of the room; He stopped at the doorway, "I truly am sorry, Sakura-chan, I'm sorry…Sasuke…I let my team down…again…" Kakashi moved his right hand over the seldom revealed eye with Obito's sharingan. He pulled his shirt up over the eye and walked out of the room.

A butterfly slowly made it's way in through the open window into the morbid room, the room where Sakura lay dead. The butterfly was beautiful, with pink wings outlined in black. It looked as if it floated in the air. The delicate butterfly set down upon the white flower in Sakura's motionless hand.

**Author's note: **Alright, this story reall came out of no where. I just thought of the begining dream sequnce, and it went from there. As of right now, I'm working on chapter two, which I hope to finish sometime this weekend.  
Please comment on anything I could do better, or you think I should add and so on. Thanks!


	2. silence under the waterfall

**a s p h y x i a t e d . t e a r s**  
chapter two. A Silence under the waterfall

**disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.  
**author's note:** This is chapter two, it picks up right where the first one ended, and will jump five years into the future. Really the first chapter came out of no where. It was hard to decide weather to continue on with it or not, but I decided to go on with the story and see how it develops.

* * *

Naruto sat on the ground at the door of Sakura's house. He simply sat starring up at the clouding sky. His orange jacket stood out against the bleak house, against his somber complexion. He kept asking himself why, but there was no answer, and no one could give him an answer. He didn't even know if he wanted one. The truth could hurt so much, he was torn apart as it was, Sasuke, now Sakura. 

Kakashi stood in the doorway, looking at the clouds as well. His gray hair, released from the headband, flowed with the slight breeze that passed by the forsaken house. Kakashi looked down to Naruto, who's eyes were full of grief, pain stricken they both were. Sadly there was nothing they could do, nothing but move on. Kakashi stepped out, slightly past Naruto. His feet were placed firmly on the light brown dirt that sat loosely upon the earth. He pulled down his cloth mask, revealing his face. His elegant gray hair covered his right eye. The air brushed against the soft skin of his face, like it had been born once more. Kakashi lowered his head.

"Looks like rain…Naruto…"  
"Why…why Kakashi-sensei…" It was evident that Naruto's voice was filled with pain as he struggled to talk, and much less hold his composure.  
"…Its life Naruto-kun." Kakashi sighed turning to Naruto, and lowering to one knee. "Some wills are stronger than other's, some just can't handle it anymore. There's no telling why people do these things…"  
"Sasuke…" A tear rolled down Naruto's face as he spoke. "It's his fault…"

Kakashi looked at him, Naruto seemed to be far gone, drowned in pain, however, whatever he may say, its true. Sasuke had been at the bottom of this, there was no denying it. Sakura killed herself, she did it because of, no, for Sasuke. He was all she had, and now he was gone.

Naruto found himself falling into Kakashi's arms, crying, letting it all go. "Kakashi…" Naruto struggled to fet his words out, over the loud sobs he let out. "…what, what do we do now…" Kakashi sighed. He couldn't save Obito, Sasuke, or even Sakura, he must save Naruto, at all cost, Naruto can't slip away, out of his grasp, into the darkness.

"We will continue down the path of life Naruto-kun…"

...  
The night sky was lit up by an elegant blanket of stars. A full moon, hung in the sky, peacefully. A light mist was suspend in the air, in the country of the Waterfall. Tranquil, shimmering waters flowed at the base of gray jagged cliffs, the cliffs seemed to spring out of the lush green forest the covered the land. For some reason, it was strangely cold that night…

Kakashi stood, his body half engulf by a waterfall he stood under. Dressed in a tight black shirt, and loose fitting pants, the light gray ANBU armor covered his chest and forearms. Blood stains Kakashi's right side, trickles of water slowly wash the blood down his face, his left hand runs through his hair as he lets out a sigh. His ANBU mask lays broken on a damp gray rock at his feet. His eyes slowly follow five figures in the dark of the forest ten feet ahead of him. Darting from the thick brush of the forest a kunai pierced Kakashi's neck; Blood ran down the gray ANBU uniform as he began to fall to the ground…

...  
Naruto leaps, out of breath, from one branch to another, then jumps down to the moist ground. All around him, its quiet. He stares around through the small slits of the fox shaped ANBU mask. His long yellow hair hung out of the sides of his mask, soaking wet, along with the rest of his black clothing.

Naruto summersaults from his crouched position, dodging a kunai. A wet green leaf falls in front of his face, and he disappears into the darkness, into the deeper woods. He sits resting, breathing heavily, behind a large tree and thick brush. Naruto's right arm shakes violently as he reaches for the water vessel hanging from his waist. Though, it seemed it had dropped as he was running through the forest. His mouth had become so dry, his tongue was like sand paper, he felt as if he was going to faint, even die right on the spot where he lay. However, the mission, his first with the ANBU, must not be failed.

Naruto moved his numb right hand towards his lower calf, grabbing some senbon, he jolted up into a tree, and twisted around thirty degrees to his right and threw all three. A piercing thud came from the direction of the senbon as a body fell from the tree tops. Naruto gasp for more air, he leaped up a few feet onto another branch. He sat down, his whole body was weak, it trembled, the feeling in his body faded away, the little that he could see began to turn black…

...  
Kakashi's body fell to the ground shattering into droplets of water, running off with the rapid fall of water. Kakashi waits, crouched down behind the waterfall, as he watches his water clone dissolve. A kunai flows through the massive wall of water. Kakashi extends his right arm and catches the kunai with his index finger. The wet kunai swirls around Kakashi's finger twice then is thrown the same direction it came from, meeting another kunai just on the other side of the waterfall, the collide, causing slight sparks and both fall into the river below.

Silence fills the air, its too calm for comfort, something isn't right. 'Why did they just stop?' Kakashi thought to himself. He leaped up six feet grabbing a hold of a rock and turned to face the black inside of the waterfall. Kakashi started climbing, faster, and faster. Soon water started pelting on his head. The instrumental percussion of the water weighed Kakashi down. He took a deep breath and with all of his might he leaped backwards, out of the raging falls. He did a full 360 degree turn in the air, water flung off of his damp clothing, raining down to the gray grass below. His feet hit the ground hard, his knees bent as far as they could go, he pulled a kunai out of his holster with each hand and sprung backwards to land on his feet more stable. Glancing around, he saw nothing, not even the swaying of the trees with the cool night wind. Something had to be wrong. 'NARUTO…' Kakashi thought, his chest pounded, it felt ready to explode.

Kakashi darted out into the dark woods. He couldn't loose Naruto now. Macabre thoughts ran though his head, wish, hoping they weren't true, he continued on, led only by crudely drawn arrows on the bark of trees. Soon, though, he was stopped in his tracks, a tree rose out of a heavily bushed area. The tree had to have had three dozen kunai plastered over it. Kakashi gripped on to the kunai he held closely, ducking down slowly, he inched his way forward, searching for a sign of Naruto. Making his way to the porcupine like tree, he examined it closely. Bits and pieces of black clothing hung from the kunai, further right, in the center of the tree was a streak of blood, next to a vague slash, what looked like it was made from a kunai, that traveled from the top of the tree, past many broken branches, and down into the bushes.

Kakashi's head snapped right hearing a moaning sound in the distance, yet it didn't sound threatening. He moved towards the noise, cautiously. He came upon an enemy's body. The fallen foe was still breathing, barely. Three senbon had pierced his neck, from Naruto most likely, Kakashi thought to himself. The enemy was wearing a tight black jump suit, just as Kakashi was wearing under the ANBU armor. Yet the foe had bandages wrapped around his from the top of his pelvic area to just below his nipple line. On his right side were beautiful calligraphic characters in a brownish ink, most likely blood, which was written on the bandages. The characters read "Kuraoi-Kawa." Kakashi seemed unpleased, by the time he had looked over the body, the man had died.

"It was surely them…" Kakashi spoke silently to himself, reaching for a scroll at his side. Kakashi unraveled the scroll, and preformed two hand seals. Smoke blew out from the scroll and Pakkun was sitting on the ground before Kakashi.

"Ah…Kakashi, what is it, I was just in the shower…" Pakkun said shaking the suds from his wet brown coat.

Kakashi sighed, "Here…" Kakashi handed Pakkun his usual blue outfit, "Take a good smell of that body there. There should be four others…as far as I know."

"Ai…" Pakkun nodded and walked over to the body sniffing at the clothes.

"I have to find Naruto-kun. Just follow those people once you find them, I may have to get Naruto help…"

"Don't worry about it Kakashi…" Pakkun said rather cheerfully, "I will find you…" With that said, Pakkun lept over the body and continued off into the darkness.

Kakashi stood up and walked back to the tree. He knelt down where the bushes were and started to search for Naruto's body, it seemed he had fallen from the tree. Kakashi heard some strange noise in front of him. He reached his hand down and felt a solid warm spot. He pulled out a kunai and chopped away the bushes. There before him, in the cleared bushes, Naruto laid, unconscious, with his stomach growling. Kakashi looked over Naruto's body, a bunch of scratches, but nothing serious. Kakashi sighed and put his arms under Naruto to pick him up. Now at a stable base, Kakashi turned to walk away, but something caught his eye. Where Naruto was laying, there was a huge puddle of blood. Kakashi glanced down at Naruto, "How…theres only scratches…" Suddenly Kakashi felt something soaking into his left glove where Naruto's head laid in his arms. He gently set Naruto down and turned him over. From the middle of Naruto's neck down to the middle of his back was a huge gash and hanging flesh; it was deep enough that bones could be seen.

"Damn…" Kakashi said glancing at the large wound. 'By the looks of it, he's had that for a few hours now…' Kakashi thought. He really had nothing to do, all of his bandages had been used. Standing there for a few seconds, Kakashi took out a kunai, he pulled at the tight black fabric of his ANBU outfit and sliced around the waist. Taking off his upper body armor, Kakashi took off, the now top, of his black jump suit. He placed the armor back onto his bare skin and wrapped Naruto's back up with the cloth. Picking Naruto up, Kakashi darted off heading for Konoha.

* * *

**AN:** Thats all I have, more will be explained in the next chapter. Thanks for reading if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them 


End file.
